According to the online version of the Japanese newspaper The Nikkei, music retailer HMV will be closing the doors of its flagship Shibuya store in August of this year.

This decision was possibly the result of falling sales in their brink-and-mortar stores in comparison to online CD shops and pay-per-download sites.

The HMV flagship store first opened in 1990, and has since been part of the the Shibuya street scene — alongside other notable landmarks like Hachiko, the Scramble Crossing, and 109. The store is so iconic that it even made an appearance as music store AMX in the best-selling Square Enix Nintendo DS game Subarashiki Kono Sekai (The World Ends With You).

I’ve spent many hours of my youth prowling their shelves in search of my next music fix, and I although I am still a bit aghast at the amount of cash I dropped at the tills during each visit, this beloved fixture on Shibuya’s Center Street will be sorely missed.

Thanks to Chelli for the heads-up.